Hermitage club

It's $125 per person for members to see Hall and Oates. I suppose if you are into them it would be a pretty cool experience since the venue can't be that big.

Kevin Nealon was a bargain at $40.

deadheadskier said:

They should have mandated that Kenny single "Danger Zone" at all times while skiing

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It's quite a long fall from Danny's Song into the Danger Zone.

VTKilarney said:

It's $125 per person for members to see Hall and Oates. I suppose if you are into them it would be a pretty cool experience since the venue can't be that big.

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Surely they wont' be the first ones to accuse Hermitage Club members of being "Out of Touch."

VTKilarney said:

Kevin Nealon was a bargain at $40.

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Probably because he's just recycling his bit about the blacks. That's him, right?

VTKilarney said:

It's $125 per person for members to see Hall and Oates. I suppose if you are into them it would be a pretty cool experience since the venue can't be that big.

Kevin Nealon was a bargain at $40.

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Oates is a big skier. Lives in Aspen.

marcski said:

Oates is a big skier. Lives in Aspen.

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If he is used to skiing Aspen he must have been really impressed at Hermitage...

burski said:

If he is used to skiing Aspen he must have been really impressed at Hermitage...

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On the flipside, if it happens to be a powder day when he's there, he'll be amazed that he can ski a place that doesn't get tracked out within 90 minutes of 1st chair. I've got friends who start a powder day at Mount Snow, ski there for 2 hours tops and then drive down the street to The Hermitage, valet their car, flash their members pass and then ski the rest of the day on untracked and/or lightly tracked powder there

By far and away, the Hermitage, even if the $$ isn't an issue, isn't everyone's cup of tea, BUT they've done a very good job at taking the vision and turning it into a reality and capturing the satisfaction of a bunch of people now.

deadheadskier said:

They should have mandated that Kenny single "Danger Zone" at all times while skiing

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No need, there are no danger zones at the Stack.

:lol: so I've heard


I just have this image of Kenny in a Turkey Tuck going down the hill belting out Danger Zone. Sometimes my imagination is a little active. :lol:

VTKilarney said:

It's $125 per person for members to see Hall and Oates. I suppose if you are into them it would be a pretty cool experience since the venue can't be that big.

Kevin Nealon was a bargain at $40.

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So it costs like $75,000 to join and $5,000 per year in dues/fees, but they still charge $125 for Hall and Oates and $40 comedy shows? Pretty nuts.

Jcb890 said:

So it costs like $75,000 to join and $5,000 per year in dues/fees, but they still charge $125 for Hall and Oates and $40 comedy shows? Pretty nuts.

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if I had the money I might be interested in something like this.. but if I had that kind of money and wanted to ski powder 75 grand would buy a lot of seats on helicopters..

Jcb890 said:

So it costs like $75,000 to join and $5,000 per year in dues/fees, but they still charge $125 for Hall and Oates and $40 comedy shows? Pretty nuts.

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No, what is pretty nuts is that your left skiing the 'Stack for thst kind of money!

Yeah, it sounds to me like you're paying HUGE money for a weekend experience you can get most places in New England on weekdays. All on a less than thrilling mountain.

Wouldn't be for me even if some long lost Uncle dropped a $10M nest egg on me. But, hey if it draws some skiers away from the other Southern VT areas, that's a good thing for those high traffic mountains.

I could see doing this on some killer peak out west where it's sunny and they get amazing snow (most winters, anyway), but in New England it just seems like a sub par experience for the expense. I can't imagine wanting to spend the week at Haystack when for the $75k I could have a timeshare condo just about anywhere, and that $5k a year could fly my family out there first class. And a lot of places are selling VIP type tickets that get them to the front of the line so that pretty much takes the crowds out of the equation. Sure, a private mountain won't get tracked out nearly as quickly, but I'm guessing most of the people doing this aren't really the type of skiers that see that as important. I'll bet most are intermediates who ski a few days per year and stick mostly to groomers.

I just have a real hard time seeing the sense in the business model for this place.

C-Rex said:

I could see doing this on some killer peak out west where it's sunny and they get amazing snow (most winters, anyway), but in New England it just seems like a sub par experience for the expense. I can't imagine wanting to spend the week at Haystack when for the $75k I could have a timeshare condo just about anywhere, and that $5k a year could fly my family out there first class. And a lot of places are selling VIP type tickets that get them to the front of the line so that pretty much takes the crowds out of the equation. Sure, a private mountain won't get tracked out nearly as quickly, but I'm guessing most of the people doing this aren't really the type of skiers that see that as important. I'll bet most are intermediates who ski a few days per year and stick mostly to groomers.

I just have a real hard time seeing the sense in the business model for this place.

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I fully get that the concept of the Hermitage doesn't make much sense to so many here on AZ. Frankly, I will admit that when it was 1st announced and started to sell memberships based on a "grand vision" of Jim Barnes, the owner, I was skeptical, and at the same time due to my proximity as a 2nd home owner up in the area, also a bit interested too.

When my wife and I took the tour there last January (the condo complex where I have my place up there was invited to have owners come over and experience the Hermitage Club for a free day), the terrain wasn't enough to keep me, or my wife interested for what is usually the 40 days a year that we ski just at Mount Snow, and for many Hermitage members this holds true as many also have passes at Mount Snow, and not just because the Hermitage's main operations schedule, except for Holiday weeks is Friday through Sunday. The terrain skis as basically 4 separate 500 vertical foot so so peaks with connecting flats in between. It reminds me more of a couple of old style small, classical New England ski areas linked together as opposed to one big area.

The members that I know, all have kids in various kids programs (some in Mount Snow's programs and some in the Hermitage's own programs). The race program that the Hermitage has developed so far has some talented coaches and is getting some good results from its athletes. Many of the kids who race, have at least one parent who has a racing background, and the Hermitage has established a strong, essentially every weekend Nastar style adult members race league, which I don't think too many ski areas, if any at all in the Northeast East have a similar commitment to regular weekend adult racing. There are some members who really can ski, and there are plenty that are terminal intermediates. The thing is though, and this is where the concept of spending the kind of $$ that is involved for a few trips out West a year, is flawed, is most of the dedicated members, who primarily live along the I-95 corridor from Northern Jersey on up to the Boston area, are up there every weekend, with their kids, so the 2.5 to 4.5 hr drive they make every weekend vs hoping on a plane and having a longer flight a few times a year just doesn't work for them, its about being together and skiing with their family essentially every weekend.

Then there's the whole "club" atmosphere" which is something that I never fully in a sense appreciated until I became a Mount Snow weekend regular years ago. You end up meeting a host of new friends, many with the same passion for the sport, who don't think that it's "crazy" to make the drive every Friday/Sunday for 20 odd weeks a year, often in bad weather to sometimes ski in the rain or stupid cold temperatures. It's nice to see the same faces on the lifts or having a drink at the bar after talking about your day on the hill, or even standing around at the bottom of a race course waiting for your kids (who are often friends too) to come down the hill. This social atmosphere is a BIG part of what many of the members who I know, enjoy, and has also been used as a big recruiting tool towards new members. Add in the year round activities up there that the club offers, and it becomes a concept that works for a number of people.

I'm actually going to get to ski at The Hermitage for the 1st time since their club house opened, this coming Sunday when my daughter has a race there. I'm looking forward to seeing how it's evolved in the year since I last skied there. Like I said, it's not everyone's taste, but for some, it's a very appealing, worthwhile opportunity. My wife and I do sometimes question ourselves, knowing now what the Hermitage has evolved into, if we should of joined way back when when the initiation fee was less than 10 grand. Right now though, it's just not worth it to us, but my hunch is that it will be worth it to about 150 more families over the next year or so, at which point they will have reached their maximum occupancy of memberships

C-Rex said:

I could see doing this on some killer peak out west where it's sunny and they get amazing snow (most winters, anyway), but in New England it just seems like a sub par experience for the expense.

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If they converted Sundown into a private club, I'd be first in line with my security deposit.

Domeskier said:

If they converted Sundown into a private club, I'd be first in line with my security deposit.

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Have you slayed satin yet?

skiNEwhere said:

Have you slayed satin yet?

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:hangs head in shame: no, but soon - very soon...

Domeskier said:

:hangs head in shame: no, but soon - very soon...

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You disgust me. Go haze yourself

skiNEwhere said:

You disgust me. Go haze yourself

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I feel the same way. I'm thinking twenty lashes with pole strap might be appropriate...

And the ACT 250 approval has been granted for their heated 6 pack bubble

http://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=257